Deputy Chief James Heron announced Thursday that nine of the department’s police cruisers are adding ID scanners, which he said is unprecedented for the region.

“I can’t speak for outside of Massachusetts, but I think only one other community in Massachusetts, next to Boston, uses these scanners in police cars,” Heron said. “It’s able to scan licenses and detect whether the license is fake or not, which has been becoming a real problem, especially with college students.

“The naked eye can’t tell if it’s phony or not, so it’s really important to get this new technology for the department,” he added.

The police station has ID scanners for people brought into the station, but Heron said having the scanners in the fleet is brand-new. In addition, those nine police cruisers are adding new Windows 7 tablets. Heron said the department received $68,000 in state grant money for these additions.

“The old technology served us well for 10 years, but it was time to get new technology,” Heron said. “The nine cruisers are getting very heavy-duty Windows 7 mobile data tablet terminals. They’re also upgradable for the future, which is a big thing for us.”

The previous computers didn’t have the capacity to upgrade technology, but these tablet terminals will have no problem upgrading, Heron said.

“The old ones really reached their limits and life expectancy, and these ones will be great for the department,” he said. “The tablets will be able to expand on any technology that comes out. The patrol car is an officer’s office, so it was important to get them a more efficient and dependable computer terminal.

“We’re getting officers the tools they need to work in today’s environment,” Heron added.